Factory making spurious aerated drinks busted

The factory was operational since around three months and the raid was conducted after a complaint from Pepsi about copyright violation of its brand logo.

Surat, Jun 12: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) sleuths on Monday busted a factory in Surat making spurious cold drinks and refilling it in bottles with the logo of reputed brands.

The factory owner, Hasmukh Gohil, has been arrested, police said. In a raid conducted on the factory operating in Katargam locality of the city, the CID (crime) sleuths found that empty bottles with the logo of Pepsi and Duke brands were being refilled with spurious cold drinks and sold in the market.

The factory was operational since around three months and the raid was conducted after a complaint from Pepsi about copyright violation of its brand logo, an official of the state CID said.

The CID seized 28,320 bottles having Pepsi logo and filled with spurious and substandard cold drinks, and another 13,608 empty bottles along with a machine used to fill the drink, he said.

"We had received a complaint from Delhi that certain persons were violating copyright by selling their product using Pepsi and Duke logos. The raid was conducted based on the complaint, following which we arrested the factory owner," a CID official said.

PTI